Semiconductor processing typically involves the deposition of a metal layer. One known technique to deposit metal in semiconductors is via electroless deposition that utilizes bath solutions to form the metal. It is critical that the concentration levels of the bath solution components be maintained within certain acceptable concentration limits. Equipment has been developed to accurately measure the concentration of bath solutions components to generate a bath solution of desired properties. However, as the electroless deposition process occurs, the concentration of various components decreases and byproducts are generated. For some applications, such as electrolytic plating of non-electronic products, additional component materials may be added to replenish depleted components. However, for semiconductor manufacturing involving small dimensions of metal deposition, component composition process limits are much more critical. Therefore, electroless bath solutions typically have a limited amount of useful application and are typically discarded once a certain amount of use or a certain amount of time has occurred. The proper disposal of bath solutions is an expensive and time consuming aspect of semiconductor manufacturing.
Skilled artisans appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help improve the understanding of the embodiments of the present invention.